The real danger of travelling in Nigeria

No doubt you must have heard the stories about travelling in Nigeria and how dangerous it can be especially if you are a foreigner visiting for the very first time. While a lot of these stories are exaggerations and in some instances complete fabrications, travelling in Nigeria can be dangerous even for nationals and locals, and it is all because of certain groups of individuals.

Book a room today from one of our 7200 hotels.

Local motor park touts (Agberos)

Regular travelers to Lagos would mostly be familiar with these men. They throng about motor parks and busy traffic intersections in many cities in Nigeria harassing drivers and passengers alike. While the police has tried on many occasions to stop these mafia touts, they continually persist, collecting their daily ‘tax’ from drivers of commercial vehicles. Refusal to pay them this tax can lead these touts to unleash violent attacks on the commercial vehicle and driver and on some occasions even the passengers within. They shatter windshields and deflate tyres, injuring passengers in some instances. Innocent travelers simply intending to board vehicles at a motor park end up becoming victims in the mayhem unleashed by these agberos.

Here's a post on the 5 ways to avoid hotel scams in Nigeria.

Bad road drivers

Road rage is a common phenomenon in Nigeria, especially in the busy urban areas in Lagos and Port Harcourt. Drivers speed uncontrollably on the wrong lanes, cut into intersections without giving right of way or even signaling, honk unnecessarily, fail to indicate emergency with cautions signs and lights and instead leave broken down cars in the middle of highways etc. these acts are liable to result in numerous accidents making the entire travelling experience for a foreigner or visitor unsafe and dangerous.

Corrupt police officers

Some officers of the Nigerian police are corrupt, and it is only unfortunate that a number of them function as highway patrol. These officers often flag down travelers on the highway for routine searches at various checkpoints and in the process demand sums of them as fines for minor or even trumped up offences. These fines are summarily pocketed without the driver being issues a receipt or ticket. Failure to give these officers the sums they demand can often lead to beatings and even robbery by these police officers. This is not to say however that all Nigerian police officers are corrupt, however, while some good eggs remain, the corrupt officers contribute heavily to the insecurity faced when journeying on Nigerian roads.

However, though traveling on Nigerian roads can be quite dangerous, it does not stop the millions of passengers that pass through the various routes every day. If you are considering traveling into different areas of Nigeria, do not be discouraged. With the presence of a good guide or driver who knows her way around the route, you can easily have a good time travelling the length and breadth of Nigeria and taking in on the sights without the fear of danger.

By the way, you might want to check out this exciting post on the best Nigerian cities to visit in 2016.